Parkinson's

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Portuguese researchers are developing and testing a smart, portable system to manage Parkinson's disease in real time. The so-called Rempark system has been tested on more than 50 volunteers from Spain, Italy, Ireland and Israel, reports Medical Xpress. Unlike previous studies, these outpatients lived at home and used the device in real-world conditions.

Kees Been has banked the $20 million round needed to move a bold new development program for delaying or preventing Parkinson's toward the clinic. And the veteran biotech CEO at the helm of Lysosomal Therapeutics Inc. is moving forward with a group of high-profile backers in his corner.

When you want to develop a drug for, say, cancer, objective measures such as survival rate can tell regulators just how effective it is compared to a standard drug or placebo. But in diseases involving the brain, scientists often have to settle for crude measures for assessing how patients perform or feel after treatment. And the wild card here is a placebo effect that can be very difficult to factor into studies and has been fingered for the death of multiple development programs.

The Florida branch of The Scripps Research Institute is touting some new advances related to Parkinson's disease. Researchers say they have been working on new therapies that can precisely hit pathways critical for the death of brain cells, a hallmark of the disease. And they're now fine tuning their work by focusing on the oral bioavailability of their new drug candidates.

The FDA just approved AbbVie's novel formulation of the standard Parkinson's drugs carbidopa and levodopa, Duopa, which is delivered straight into the patient's small intestine over 16 consecutive hours using an infusion pump and procedurally placed tube.

Cynapsus reported that 14 of the 16 Parkinson's disease patients responded positively in the Phase II trial of its reformulated thin-film strip version of the drug apomorphine, dubbed APL-130277, for the treatment of "off" episodes.

Scientists in Spain have now developed small particles with the ability to encapsulate growth factors when implanted in the brain, which could ultimately reverse the effects of these diseases by spurring the growth of new, healthy neurons.

When Parkinson's disease patients start taking new meds, doctors go on the lookout for the usual side effects: dizziness, nausea, and the like. But according to a new study, they need to think weird, too. The risk of compulsive behavior--gambling, shopping, sex--is much higher than previously thought.

Israel's NeuroDerm filed for a stock offering on the basis of its subcutaneous formulation for treating Parkinson's; Civitas, the developer of an inhaled formulation for the disease, is expected to debut on the Nasdaq Sept. 24; and EyeGate Pharmaceuticals, which employs low-voltage electrical current to deliver eye medication, also just filed for an IPO.